1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a one-piece bumper pad which fits bed rails of various lengths, more particularly a removable, washable, comfortable, easily installed bumper pad for covering a rail on a geriatric or hospital bed.
2. Background Information
With the post-war "Baby Boomers" approaching retirement age, the already high numbers of people over age 60 are expected to swell. While many retirees remain healthy, a certain percent unfortunately become infirm or encounter physical ailments which will cause them to become bedridden. With the high number of elderly people who are or will be spending various periods of time in hospitals, long term care facilities, nursing homes, retirement homes, and home care, additional special hospital/geriatric beds are or will soon be needed. Those beds, which are currently used in hospitals by patients of all ages, usually have bed rails for helping to prevent patients from falling or getting out of bed. Sometimes the hands of patients who are delirious or who have diminished mental capacity are tied with padded wrist bands to bed rails to prevent them from leaving the bed or pulling out their intravenous transfusion lines (IVs). For those patients who are confined to a bed in a sterile room for most of the day, small comforts are much appreciated.
The present invention is a removable, washable, one-piece bumper pad for cushioning patients of any age, but particularly bedridden geriatric patients, from the rails on these beds. Bed rails usually comprise metal bars. They are cold and hostile looking, particularly when viewed up close from a prone position. The bumper pads of the present invention are soft and padded to cushion the limbs of the patient in the bed against contact with the bed rails. Covering the bed rails should also reduce minor injuries which result from bumping or scaping the hands, arms or legs against the bed rails and possibly pulling out an IV or other tubes attached to the patient. This is particularly important for the delirious patient who is tied to and may be thrashing against the bed and rails. The present bumper pads also serve to protect the bed rails to some extent from the patients and visitors.
Bed rails can be short or long in length. Most hospital/geriatric beds have two short rails on opposite sides of the bed. These are between about 35 and 40 inches long and about 18 to 22 inches in height. When a person is lying in the bed, the rails are approximately at chest level. Some beds have four sets of short rails, two each on opposite sides of the bed. The set of rails at the lower end of the bed are to help discourage the patient from swinging his legs over the edge of the bed to get up. This helps to prevent falls. Some beds have two short rails on opposite sides of the bed which telescope into longer rails of between about 75 and 80 inches in length. These rails can be used in the short position or be pulled out into a longer position once the patient is in the bed. The present bumper pad can also fit a telescoping bed rail. The bumper pad of the present invention can be "closed" to cover short bed rails or it can be "opened" to fit longer bed rails. The present bumper pad can fit one short rail, or two short rails which are positioned end to end along one side of a bed, or various rail lengths in between.